Washington’s first open-field win was a moral victory

Evidence

The “Smart Skirmish,” as Washington called it, went back and forth for more than an hour with both sides sending in reinforcement until the British had spent their ammunition and fell back. Expecting that the British would soon return with more soldiers, Washington recalled his troops and the so-called Battle of Harlem Heights ended in a moral victory for the Americans. “Our people beat the Enemy off the Ground,” General Greene reported. “If the officers were as good as the Men, and had only a few months to form the Troops to Discipline, America might bid Defiance to the whole World.” While more Americans died in the battle than British, and the American dead included Knowlton, the encounter was Washington’s first open-field engagement not ending in defeat. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 257